How To Distinguish Between The Neutral Wire And Live Wire In A Household Electrical Outlet?

1. Distinguishing by appearance

Generally, the live wire is red, the neutral wire is light blue, and the yellow-green bicolor wire is the ground wire.

2. Distinguishing with a voltage tester

Use a voltage tester to test the wires. The wire that causes the tester to light up is the live wire, while the wire that does not light up is the neutral wire.

3. Distinguishing with a voltmeter

The voltage between different phase wires (i.e., live wires) is the line voltage of 380V. The voltage between the phase wire (live wire) and the neutral wire (or a good ground) is the phase voltage of 220V. The voltage between the neutral wire and a good ground is 0V.

4. Identifying live, neutral, and ground wires in a junction box

First, use a voltage tester to test the wires. The wire that lights up the tester is the live wire, while the wires that don't light up are the ground and neutral wires. Then, connect the identified live wire to a low-power household appliance along with the neutral and ground wires. If the appliance works normally, the other wire is the neutral wire. If it doesn't work normally and the leakage protection device trips, then the other wire besides the live wire is the ground wire.

The above are several methods for distinguishing between live, neutral, and ground wires in daily life. Of course, the simplest way is to remember the mnemonic: left is neutral, right is live, and top is ground. However, please note that this method of distinguishing Wall Switch is from the front. If viewed from the back, the order of the live and neutral wires is exactly the opposite. We can also use another method: distinguish according to the terminal markings on the socket – the L terminal connects to the live wire, the N terminal connects to the neutral wire, and the PE terminal connects to the ground wire.